Falsepine
- December 1, 2022
- Voyager Softworks
Get on Steam"Falsepine is a challenging roguelike game set in the untamed West, where you hunt 5 legendary creatures. Explore diverse landscapes, gather clues, and prepare in Falsepine town before each battle. Your skill and strategy will determine your success in this action-packed, brutal adventure."
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game features engaging visuals and a unique western/fantasy theme that many players find appealing.
- Gameplay is challenging and rewarding, especially for those who enjoy the grind of roguelike mechanics and learning enemy patterns.
- The gunplay feels satisfying, with a good balance between shooting, melee, and reloading, providing a fun and dynamic combat experience.
- The game suffers from numerous bugs and a lack of polish, leading to frustrating gameplay experiences and a feeling of abandonment by the developers.
- Players often feel penalized for dying, losing almost all progress and equipment, which can make the gameplay loop feel tedious and disheartening.
- The level design is criticized for being linear and repetitive, lacking the depth and exploration found in other roguelikes, which diminishes overall enjoyment.
- gameplay26 mentions
- 38 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 12 % negative mentions
The gameplay is a mixed bag, featuring smooth twin-stick controls and engaging fast-paced combat, but marred by a repetitive loop that emphasizes grinding and punishes players for progressing with basic equipment. While the core mechanics and visuals are appealing, many players find the overall experience feels half-baked, with significant flaws in UI and strategic depth, leading to frustration rather than enjoyment. Despite these issues, the game manages to evoke a compelling "one more run" feeling typical of rogue-likes.
“The twin sticks gameplay works smoothly.”
“The game looks beautiful and has a fun gameplay loop.”
“A really cool rogue-like in the ever-present weird west genre, Falsepine is a little rough around the edges in terms of polish or outright visual design, but its really fun and engaging gameplay and minute-to-minute fast-paced combat makes up for any shortcomings and continually left me with a 'one more run!' feeling after dying.”
“But the gameplay loop and penalties when you die kind of ruin the fun.”
“So the gameplay loop involves getting killed then grinding and grinding the same areas again and again in order to recover those bonus perks, and get the money in order to re-equip.”
“The core concept is appealing, and the moment-to-moment gunplay feels okay, but everything from the UI to the primary gameplay loop feels half-baked in the game's current state.”
- graphics16 mentions
- 38 % positive mentions
- 44 % neutral mentions
- 19 % negative mentions
The graphics are generally praised for their engaging atmosphere and enjoyable visuals, with many noting the cool theme. However, the lack of graphical options, including vsync, has led to performance issues, particularly with framerate drops in foggy areas, which users hope will be addressed in future updates. Overall, while the visuals are appealing, the absence of customization options has disappointed some players.
“The atmosphere is engaging and the visuals are great.”
“The visuals are enjoyable.”
“The graphics and theme are cool.”
“There are no graphics options, and my framerate tanked in certain spots, usually when fog was around.”
“My CPU/GPU weren't working too hard at the time, so this is probably just something that will be optimized in the future, but having no options to change graphics settings to mitigate this was a bit of a slap in the face.”
“And the visuals???”
- story12 mentions
- 8 % positive mentions
- 67 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
The game's story and world are intriguing, but the execution suffers from poorly legible mission texts and numerous spelling and grammar errors in the tutorial and lore entries. Players find the mission structure repetitive, with limited clarity on gameplay mechanics, such as item storage and boss encounters. Overall, while the narrative has potential, its presentation detracts from the experience.
“You start in a region, with 3 missions + one boss.”
“The world/story appealed to me, but everything from the tutorial text to the lore entries in the journal was spotted with spelling and grammar errors.”
“Texts of missions are barely legible.”
“If you die, missions can vary.”
- atmosphere4 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The atmosphere of the game is highly praised for its engaging quality, complemented by impressive visuals and effective music. Overall, players find the combination of these elements creates an immersive experience.
“The atmosphere is engaging, and the visuals are great.”
“The atmosphere, music, and shooting mechanics are all good.”
“The atmosphere is immersive, complemented by stunning visuals.”
- music2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The music in the game is consistently praised for enhancing the atmosphere, contributing positively to the overall experience alongside the gameplay elements.
“The atmosphere, music, and shooting mechanics are all excellent.”
“The atmosphere, music, and shooting mechanics are all excellent.”
- stability2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Overall, users report a stable experience with no significant bugs encountered during gameplay, highlighting smooth mechanics and general stability throughout their sessions.
“I didn't encounter any bugs in close to 2 hours of gameplay, but the mechanics and overall smoothness were lacking.”
“The game ran without bugs for me, but the mechanics felt clunky and the overall experience was not smooth.”
- grinding2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -50 % neutral mentions
- 150 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game repetitive, as it often requires them to repeatedly traverse the same areas after dying to recover lost perks and currency for re-equipping. This cycle can lead to frustration, as it detracts from the overall enjoyment of the gameplay experience.
“The gameplay loop involves getting killed, then grinding the same areas repeatedly to recover bonus perks and earn money to re-equip.”
“The constant need to grind the same locations over and over becomes tedious and detracts from the overall experience.”
“Grinding for resources feels more like a chore than an engaging part of the game, leading to frustration rather than enjoyment.”
